Since then they had continued talking and when AIA was looking for their first digital direct partner for a new line-up of products they thought of Quashed.
Lim said to get New Zealand's largest life insurer, AIA, on board took it a step closer to its vision of being a one stop shop for insurance.
"It doesn't matter if it is your car your home, contents, your pet insurance and now your life insurance."
Lim said it would use the new capital to continue to grow its team. It had already grown from five staff to just over 10 in the last year or so and hoped to grow that to 20 or more now.
"It is a challenging market to hire. We have all seen the great resignation and the tight squeeze on the labour market."
But he said startups were now being seen as a more attractive place to work than in the past.
"Start-ups have the benefit of being quite a lot more popular for job-seekers these days where as going back five, 10 years ... the perception of joining a startup was definitely not what it is today."
He pointed to the success of Pushpay, Sharesies and Vend as helping to make people see them as attractive employers.
Lim said it also had some other big partnerships with insurers that it hoped to announce later this year.
The deal with AIA showed that large insurers were able to be agile and work with start-ups, he said.
"Previously there was this perception of quite a lengthy process in terms of working with big corporates to get things done but I think in this case being able to prove that even a massive large corporate like AIA has worked in a seamless and agile manner to partner with us. We are really excited and encouraged by that."
Just over a year ago, Lim said Quashed was really just a platform where consumers could get a view of all their insurance policies in one place but based on customer demand it had launched a tool called market scan that allowed people to compare policies.
"We started with car insurance and then opened it up to content and house and now obviously life. For us adding that kind of feature and functionality has made it appeal to even more of the population."
It was aiming to get to 100,000 customers and he said they were on track to hit that next year.
The insurance market, particularly life insurance, has been slow to go digital. AIA has traditionally sold all its policies via financial advisers.
But Lim said, with a number of changes happening in the industry, insurers were starting to open up and see how consumers wanted to engage and then create products that were more simple and accessible.
"It really complements what they currently do and for us, both parties really see this as the start of a partnership."
Quashed would be an additional distribution channel but would also be able to give AIA feedback on what consumers were looking for.
Consumers don't get any advice on the products through Quashed.
"It is designed to be a simpler product so people can self-serve. It is all online so you can go through the process in a matter of minutes and they want to make it very straightforward."
For life insurance people could get up to $300k cover while rent protection was capped at $3k.
It was not designed for those with more complex needs or who may have multiple pre-existing conditions and those people would be directed to an adviser.
"It's really about reaching a lot more Kiwis with this. We have seen from the research there is under insurance."
He said simpler products and more accessible channels was part of that solution.
"Research shows around 70 per cent of Kiwis are underinsured and without adequate protection. Making life products from a highly trusted brand like AIA more accessible on our digital platform makes it easier for Kiwis to research and buy cover for themselves and their families,."
AIA New Zealand chief executive CEO Nick Stanhope said: "We partnered with Quashed as we believe we have a shared commitment to making insurance more accessible for all New Zealanders."
